I 
68 OPPRESSIVE CLOTHING. 
a Malay, who was very warmly clad for that country. 
He had on a large oval-crowned straw hat, a gown-like 
garment of fancy calico, and w^as protected from the sun 
by the extensively-projecting roof of the vehicle. lie 
carried a long whip, which, he told us, the law required 
him to crack at every bridge, corner, or approaching cai’- 
riage, and, further, that at night every carriage had to 
drive before a blazing torch, held aloft by a man who 
rode behind. All of this w^as to guard against the risk 
of unpleasant contacts. Unfortunately, he did not thus 
enlighten us until we had rew^arded him wdth an extra 
rupee for putting himself into a perspiration in his en- 
deavours to ^ make good time,’ as w^e thought, while in 
reality it w^as the law which caused him to crack his whip 
at such a fearful rate. At first w^e could not imagine 
wdiat could make every one in such a hurry: every coach- 1 
man that w^e passed was cracking his long whip over the 
heads of his apparently crack-proof ponies.” 
After driving a half-mile or so, w^e pass through an 
enclosure in which are the Government storehouses. 
“While passing through these grounds, Bliss pointed 
out to me a heavy gun, apparently a thirty-two-pounder, 
which he said a Dutch officer had told him was much 
reverenced by the native w'omen. 
“It seems that, like the ancient Athenians, these 
people have an idea that effect may exist without cause; 
or, rather, wffien the occurrence of a certain every-day 
event is looked for in vain, it may be brought about by 
prayers, offerings to some deity, or the observance of 
some superstitious form. The Malay ladies therefore, 
having invested this gun wdth some miraculous power, 
